Observing sunspots with a camcorder and home-made filter

The moment I saw a TV demonstration of how to view the sun safely with a simple, affordable home made filter, I knew I had to have one. Observing the sun has always had its fascination for me. It is our nearest star and we are entering a period of increased sunspot activity. In the past, I had been able to film the sun at high magnification, simply on a camcorder. However this was at sunset when its brilliance was greatly diminished.

The video below shows how I made a filter and used it to record sunspots on a Panasonic HC-V700 camcorder. If you have problems viewing, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUbNgma2e2I.

WARNING: do not look at the sun directly by naked eye or through any type of telescope etc, even when using filters as you can damage your eyes.

The almost magical material is a thin film that cuts out 99.9% of light passing through it. AstroSolar (TM) is made by Baader and it arrived as an A4 sheet by post after ordering on Amazon a couple of days later.

Useful instructions to make a sun filter that could be slipped over the front of a telescope barrel were included. My problem was going to be the fact that camcorders do not have much of a barrel. There was a simple solution.

To make my filter:

• I first cut out two equally sized squares of stiff cardboad, about 10cm x 10cm.
• I then drew diagonal pencil lines from opposing corners on each card, to find the centre.
• My camcorder front lens aperture was about 4cm.
• I therefore cut out a 4cm diameter disc from the centre of each card, using a circular cutter.
• The A4 Astro Solar film was sandwiched between two sheets of paper to protect it.
• Using scissors, I cut out a square of about 6cm x 6cm from the paper-film-paper sandwich.
• The side of one of the pieces of card was coated with glue from a glue stick (Prittstick).
• The glue covered card was placed sticky side uppermost on a table.
• The AstroSolar film square was carefully placed on the glued card, completely covering the 4cm diameter hole.
• The second piece of card was then placed on top of the first card and film.
• I now had a Card- Film-Card sandwich with the filter exposed where the card had a hole.

Frustratingly, it was another few days before cloud cover broke and the sun shone through and I could try out the new filter with my camcorder.

To use the filter on the camcorder, I made a roll of Blutack and placed it to create a ring on the cardboard, around the filter aperture. The camcorder face was then pressed gently and accurately onto the Blutack to create a light-tight seal.

Mounting the camcorder onto a tripod, I dashed out of the house and prepared to record the sun. Despite there being a light high altitude haze that might blur any sunspots, I had a go at finding them.

Using the Panasonic HC V700 to zoom in on the sun's disc, I could see two faint islands of sunspots. These corresponded to those numbered 1683 and 1686 on the daily images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/

Conclusion

Modern camcorders can have a sufficiently good optical and digital zoom to observe sunspots with an appropriate filter!

Why Your DNA is like a shiny film DVD – but cheaper to fund

A layperson's guide to your DNA and why  mapping it is important for future cancer and other treatments and prevention.

The sun rose today and the government announced that it was going to fund something big. £100 million will be spent  mapping the  DNA sequences of 100,000 sufferers of cancers and other rare diseases in the UK. This will be the start of a genetic revolution in medicine! How?

After your parents had enjoyed that creative night of passion, a solitary sperm and a giant egg (relative to the sperm) fused together. Now they shared the 3 billion plus bits of information. That information is encoded in your DNA.

Three billion bits of information fits comfortably onto a shiny film DVD. And as the digital information on the DVD recreates a wonderful film, the information in the DNA provides the instructions to create the incredible unique individual that is you.

We know, (OK, engineers and scientists know), how to make the film DVD with its microscopic digital instructions and read these on a DVD player.  We are only beginning to understand the very basics of small parts of the DNA that makes up our human genome. We can recognise bits of DNA as genes with particular functions like making haemoglobin or digesting your food. But, to be honest, we are still a very long way off understanding how all the instructions are transformed into the miraculous you and me.

So, the strategy behind mapping the DNAs of 100,000 sufferers of cancer and other diseases is: To see if there are any differences or common features in the information encoded in the 100,000 DNAs by comparing them. Comparing 3 billion bits of information from each individual within even a select group is going to be an enormous task. After all, three billion letters is about 1500 volumes of the fat Harry Pottter book (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix).

Fortunately, mapping your DNA has become a lot cheaper. Let's  ignore the  billions of years of natural  evolution leading to humanity. Perhaps we should also draw a discrete veil over the financial investment in romance leading to the nights of passion that created you and me. Mapping your  DNA sequence currently costs between £5,000 and £10,000. This is about 1% of the cost of mapping the first human genome in 2011, estimated at £500m!

£100m is therefore quite reasonable for the 100, 000 shiny DVDs worth of DNA information. After all, a good studio production to create an equivalent film costs tens of millions of pounds, so the investment sum is equivalent financing this year's blockbusters. And if you use double sided BlueRay discs, you can store the information more conveniently on only 7500 disks!

It is going to take years just to do the mapping of the 100,000 human DNA sequences. It will take even longer for all the discoveries and research to lead to successful treatments. So this is for the long term.

However, there will a point in the future where an older you or our children can go to the doctor, have our DNA sequences mapped at relatively low cost - and receive preventative treatment tailored to our unique individual genetic heritage.

Ash dieback, back to the future

Whilst we are reeling from the shock of finding ash dieback in the UK, European foresters have been fighting an ongoing battle to find practical solutions to this relatively new ash tree killer.

With new cases of ash dieback disease detected  on a daily basis in the UK, the more likely scenario is that the disease has been bubbling away for a couple of seasons – unnoticed until you deliberately look for symptoms.

Judging by the progress of the ash dieback in Europe, where it was first identified in the early nineties, the next three years will see a dramatic decline in our ash population. Whether this is by the disease itself or a frenzy of pre-emptive logging is another question.

How does it all start?

A microscopic fungal spore lands on an ash leaf and infects it. Fine fungal threads, called hyphae, grow through the leaf and into the stem. Blocking the plant vessels carrying water in the plant, they kill off the leaves, petioles and wood. They create the symptoms so aptly described in the ashtag app you can download here. This is the fungal disease known as Chalara fraxinea or ash dieback!

The infected dead leaves fall to the ground. Here, small white cup shaped fungal fruiting bodies appear on the leaf stems (petioles) - known as the fungus Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus. These produce the spores that infect the leaves of both diseased and still healthy ash trees nearby.

Octobertest in Bavaria

Can we save our ash trees? I found an interesting 2012 paper by a Bavarian group of forestry researchers who have been battling with this questions for the past four years. They looked at over 1000 ash trees in a spread of experimental plots throughout Bavaria. Read the paper by Heike Lenz and colleagues, here. (For those unfamiliar with German, here's my quick translation). Some key points below.

Finding supertrees?

Even after three years, exposed to heavily infected neighbours, about 6% of the Bavarian ash trees were healthy or only lightly infected. This phenomenon has been observed elsewhere too. Are the healthy trees just lucky or are they partially or even fully resistant? Unfortunately, we will be experiencing natural selection in ash in real time, in the woods of Bavaria and Britain.

Far above the fungal cloud

However, the level of healthy trees was lower by half in young stands. Could this be because the leaves on the older trees were higher above the ground, away from where the spores were being produced. Tantalisingly, the data for the effect of altitude was still unavailable, presumably in progress. Measurements did show that rain spread more spores in the air.

Stressed out or seeing the light

Early results from ground shading experiments in the field mirrored those in the lab. Spore formation appears to be promoted by light. So could we reduce the infection pressure due to spore formation by other factors too? Faster leaf decomposition, liming the soil, changes in nutrients and other stresses all need to be tested for their effects on spore formation and germination.

Conclusion

We can use existing research from EU foresters who are ahead of us in the disease curve. We are still going to see a dramatic population crash in the number of healthy ash trees over the next few years. However, unlike the Elms, which were all genetic clones of a Roman import, ash trees have a natural diversity. It looks as if tolerant or even resistant individuals will survive and, in the long run, we may get our ash stands back.

Does Sex have a Role in Success

With a title like "The role of sex in success", my biological curiosity and and intellect battled it out about whether to attend this event, part of Ann Hawkins' series of events by The Inspired Group. Naturally, my intellect won by rationalising that it would be beneficial to learn more about the subject.

The talk was presented by Susan Quilliam, Relationship Psychologist, who recently updated the iconic "The Joy of Sex" for the 21st Millenium. As Susan said, her aim was to bring a 70's book written by a man mostly for men to an era where it could be about a subject equally for men and women.

For those of you hoping for a more salacious article, I do have to disappoint you in advance, though  you may find the section on the calorific value of ejaculate interesting at the end. For Susan was looking at three elements relating to sex, rather than the acts themselves, namely:

1. How sex can support success
2. How sex can sabotage success
3. And how the choice rests with us

Susan, a composed competent speaker with a twinkle of humour in her eye, took us through the points individually. She then gave us the opportunity to discuss and come up with insights. These were either our own experiences or the very public ones by the great and not so good ingrained into the consciousness of our society, or at least the red top papers.

Supporting Success

Apparently there are at least 237 reasons or benefits of sex with some of the key elements being improved health, a better emotional balance in life and, when redirected, additional drive and enthusiasm in achieving other tasks and objectives.

Sabotaging Success

However, sexual dynamics and relationships in the workplace can have a destructive effect. This is not just on the individuals involved, but due the disintegration or just lowered efficiency of the teams in which they take place.  Sexual desire can seriously affect decision making, resulting in business errors bitterly regretted later.

Making the right choices for us

So it came down to us to accept that sexual dynamics, tensions, attractions existed. There is a wide spectrum of cultural backgrounds and socially accepted behaviours, from dealing with strangers to the apple of one's eye. It is up to us to make a choice which ones will be positive and to know when we reach boundaries we should perhaps not cross over.

I must admit that in the open discussions, we were a very cerebral, rational and demure lot. The word that raised the most frisson, was the use of the word" frisson" in relation to a married relationship. However, with a drink and food at the table after the formal part of the talk, conversation became a lot more animated. Laughter, innuendo and some intriguing stories emerged.

One common theme at our table was the relationships we had with our children and the cross-generational inhibitions there seemed to be in accepting that either side could actually talk about and understand - sex.

But perhaps the biggest surprise was the gender/sexual inequality that was revealed when we took a closer look at the avowed fact that the sexual act used a full 85 calories. For it seems that one party in the final consummation dispenses a further 5 calories as ejaculate, therefore using 90 calories, whilst the recipient therefore could suffer a deficit by receiving those 5 calories and therefore only using 80 in total.

Humour aside, it was an informative and thought provoking evening which I was thoroughly justified in talking myself into attending. If you want to know more, contact Susan Quilliam or read her books, covering topics from body language, through relationship management and coping with crises.

Congratulations Ann, for another Inspired talk.

Migraine and Headache trend differently on Twitter

Summary

Migraines and headaches show a different pattern of expression in Twitter trends both during the week and time of day.

Introduction

As a migraineur, a sufferer of migraines, I was curious whether tweets on twitter would show any trends in migraine onset and whether these could be distinguished from headaches. This study uses an available searchable Twitter dataset generated by timeu.se.

Methodology

The results were obtained using the timeu.se data made available at the http://timeu.se/ website of Scott Golder. This allows searches of over 500M tweets from 2.4M users, collected from public Twitter accounts using the Twitter API over the course of several weeks in early 2010.

Results

Migraine tweets show a peak in the morning at around 07:00h plus or minus 3h (figure 1).

There were far more headache tweets than migraine tweets. Headache tweets show two peaks during the week. The morning peak mimicked that of the migraine peak in time (07:00h) whilst there was a broader peak at around 16:00h-17:00h (figure 2).


Figure 1: Plot of migraine tweets per hour for the days of the week

Figure 2: Plot of headache tweets per hour for the days of the week

Figure 3: Plot of tweets for headaches, hangovers and migraines averaged over the week

Figure 4: Plot of migraines and aggregated common painkiller tweets averaged over the week

On Saturdays and Sundays, headaches peaked strongly in the morning between 09:00h-10:00h and coincided with tweets for hangovers (Figure 3).

Note that the Monday afternoon headache peak was as large as the Sunday morning peak but did not coincide with hangovers.

Mention of the common painkillers, aspirin, paracetamol (Tylenol in the US) and ibuprofen appeared to peak either a couple of hours before or at the same time as mentions of migraines (figure 4). Unfortunately, the common triptans used for acute migraine treatment did not trend to a sufficient degree in the database and did not appear in searches.

Conclusions and Discussion

Tweets on Twitter were able to show distinct patterns relating to mention of migraine, headaches, hangovers and painkillers. Migraines are known to occur more frequently in the morning (e.g. Fox & Davis 2003, 'Migraine Chronobiology', DOI: 10.1046/j.1526-4610.1998.3806436.x). The results here show the same phenomenon. Furthermore, Twitter migraineurs appear to be able to distinguish between a migraine and a headache as there is only a single migraine peak during the day in the total averaged data.

Conversely, it appears that many headache sufferers may be unaware that their morning headache is possibly a migraine. From figure 3 it is apparent that about 5 times more headaches are mentioned than migraines. The morning minor headache peak coincides with the migraine peak. One possible conclusion is therefore that the occurrence of migraines is vastly under-reported.

This may also explain the apparent and unusual closer correlation between migraines and conventional painkiller-use peaks in the morning (figure 4). Migraineurs tend to know from bitter experience that conventional painkillers do not have a significant effect on their migraines, with triptans being the saving grace for many of us. Could it be that the higher mention of the use of painkillers in the mornings is related to the fact that they do not work in many instances where tweeters are suffering from a morning headache that is actually a migraine?

Figure 5. Back pain, arthritis, migraine and common painkiller use

An alternative explanation is perhaps the surprising coincidence of peaks in the most abundant pains suffered in the morning, namely migraine. back pain and arthritis with painkiller use as shown in figure 5.

Even the restricted dataset or 500M tweets provided by timeu.se reveals interesting trends relating to the use of the term migraine in Tweets as demonstrated here. The available dataset should currently, in 2012, be significantly greater and open to further analysis by epidemiologists. The past 24h alone had 350 tweets relating to the #migraine.

Need help conducting research? Contact chris@miltoncontact.com

Preparing for Spotted Wing Drosophila in the UK

Summary

This article provides accessible links and information on the fruit pest Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD, Drosophila suzukii) , brought together from a variety of sources. The information is current as of August 2012. This is still prior to the likely landfall of Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) in the UK. It includes Fera UK advice plus experiences of growers and researchers in the US and Europe where SWD is already present. This information should be of interest for professional fruit growers and for gardeners wanting to know more on how to detect the pest and manage it when it does arrive in the UK.

You can read and download the whole document as a PDF by clicking on the image below. Alternatively access the document for download from http://issuu.com/miltoncontact/docs/spotted-wing-drosophila-article or continue reading this article below

Open publication - Free publishing - More control

Introduction

I learnt of a crueller reality for fruit growers in the UK when the owner of one visited my Cambridge Open Studio photography exhibition in July 2012.  Fruit growers are looking out with dread for the first signs of the destructive fruit fly invader, Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD), in the UK.

First recorded in Japan in the early 1910s, Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) was detected in the US and southern Europe by 2008. By November 2011 a specimen was found in Ostend, Belgium, just a Channel hop away (1).

It is only a matter of time before Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) invades the UK. Currently  Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) is on the list of Notifiable Pests and Diseases set by Defra/Fera (2).

The bad news is countered by the upsurge on recent experience and publications in Europe and the USA. We can benefit from the experience gained by growers and researches who are already battling with Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD, Drosophila suzukii).

Damage caused by the Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD)

Within the first year of Spotted Wing Drosophila  reaching California, it caused $500 million actual loss due to pest damage. The effect was very variable, with some areas having little or no loss and others up to 80% crop loss (3). Details for individual crops over three US counties are given in (4).

Why Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) has such an impact

The reasons for the potentially severe effects and fast spread of Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) include

1. Wide host range
2. The ability to attack ripening fruit
3. Exponential reproduction within a growing season
4. Ability to reproduce at 10 deg C to 30 deg C
5. Ability to spread in commercial fruit transport and by flight (5).

1. Wide host range

Reported hosts are Rosaceae - Fragaria ananassa (strawberry), Rubus idaeus (raspberry), Rubus fruticosus,  Rubus laciniatus,  Rubus armeniacus and other  Rubus species and hybrids of the blackberry group, Rubus ursinus (marionberry),  Prunus avium (sweet cherry),  Prunus armeniaca (apricot),  Prunus persica (peach),  Prunus domestica  (plum),  Eriobotrya japonica  (loquat); Ericaceae -  Vaccinium species and hybrids of the blueberry group; Grossulariaceae – Ribes species including the cultivated currants; Moraceae - Ficus carica (fig), Morus spp. (mulberry); Rhamnaceae - Rhamnus alpina ssp. fallax, Rhamnus frangula (buckthorn); Cornaceae -  Cornus spp. (dogwood); Actinidiaceae -  Actinidia arguta (hardy kiwi); Ebenaceae - Diospyros kaki (persimmon); Myrtaceae -  Eugenia uniflora (Surinam cherry); Rutaceae - Murraya paniculata (orange jasmine); Myricaceae - Myrica rubra (Chinese bayberry); Caprifoliaceae - Lonicera spp. (honeysuckle); Elaeagnaceae -  Elaeagnus spp.; Adoxaceae - Sambucus nigra (black elder). Also included are Vitis vinifera (table and wine grapes) and Malus domestica (apple)(5)(6).

2. Ability to attack ripening fruit

Female Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) target ripening fruit. They have a serrated ovipositor (egg-laying tube) with which they cut through the fruit skin and lay eggs inside. This is different to the familiar fruit flies, where eggs are laid on the surface of ripe fruit and the hatched larvae can only enter through any existing break in the fruit skin that they find (5)(6).

3. Exponential reproduction in a growing season

One to three eggs are laid per fruit. On average 400 eggs are laid during a lifetime that may range from 10 to 59 days. The hatched larvae feed mainly within the safety of the fruit and pupate.  Adults can emerge from the fruit after a minimum of 8 days, depending on temperature. Up to 10 generations of Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) can be produced within a growing season (5)(6).

Each individual fruit can be infected by a number of different females, increasing the damage caused by the feeding larvae. Further causes of fruit damage are opportunistic infection by other fruit flies, fungi, yeasts and bacteria through the holes created (5)(6).

4. Wide temperature tolerance for breeding

Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) is tolerant of a wide range of temperatures, reproducing between 10 deg C and 30 deg C. Adults are cold tolerant and it is believed that mated females overwinter (5). The UK is well within its comfortable reproductive temperature range.

5. Long distance spread in fruit and also by flight

Long distance spread is likely to be via larvae and pupae hidden within harvested fruit moving across borders. Tracking studies on the close relative Drosophila melanogaster in 1961 showed that fruit flies could also travel at least 4.4 miles upwind within 24h (7). Targeted flight towards a food source by Spotted Wing Drosophila is quoted at 150m, they can however fly as far as 10km (8).

The Strategy: Monitor, Identify Control

With such a combination of factors creating a high potential for damage, how do you respond and control Spotted Wing Drosophila should it appear in your region?

The UK Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera), under Defra, put together a fact-sheet  on Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) in 2010 (6) which included advice on potential control measures.
The pest has not entered the UK, so Fera also sent out a consultation invitation in January 2012 (11) requesting input on identifying the most appropriate response to SWD in the UK. Two options open for consideration were

• No statutory action, leave industry to manage
• Work in collaboration to limit spread, including limited statutory action when necessary

The document also outlines control options, indicating that an integrated approach will be needed (integrated pest management IPM).

The key message is to catch Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) as early as possible. The information sheet for Washington State wine grape growers gives the excellent mantra
Monitor, Identify, Control 
as an excellent memory aid (9).

Monitoring and identification can already be done by any grower in the UK with minimal effort.

Monitoring and Identifying Spotted Wing Drosophila

Fruit flies can be collected in 5% apple cider vinegar traps, also known as ACV traps (10)(11). These can easily be made economically from yoghurt pots or plastic bottles. Pierce the sides with holes a few millimetres wide or cover the opening with loose mesh cloth that will let fruit flies through. Add apple cider vinegar and a drop of detergent. Apple cider vinegar still appears to be the most effective attractant. The detergent serves to kill the flies. The pictures in the slideshow below show the results of an impromptu trial I conducted at home.


Traps should be set either as soon as temperatures exceed 10 degrees C or just before your crop is about to start ripening.

As a fruit grower, the simplest way to identify potential Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) from other fruit flies is – by the single wing spot on each of the wings. (The following photos are from specimens captured in Milton, Cambridgeshire, 2016)

Male SWD (Spotted Wing Drosophila, D. suzukii. showing wing spot. Photo Chris Thomas, miltoncontact

Female SWD (Spotted Wing Drosophila, D. suzukii. lacking wing spot but with serrated ovipositor.
Photo Chris Thomas, miltoncontact

Note: Only the males have the wing spots. As the sex ratio is lightly higher for females than males with this fruit fly early in the year, detecting males strongly suggests females are also present. Late Summer and Autumn, more males than females were found in traps in affected areas (12).

If you have access to a stereo-microscope, you can also search for females of SWD as they have a characteristic serrated (toothed) ovipositor (egg laying tube).

More pictures of male spotted wings and of female ovipositors to aid identification can be found in references (6)(8)(10). Holes in fruit created by egg-laying female Spotted Wing Drosophila are also another indicator of a potential problem.

Picture of D. suzukii by Wikimedia Commons contributor M Francisco

Control: Current Recommendations

The UK primary objectives (6, 10) are to:

1. Control the adult flies before they can lay eggs in the fruit and
2. Reduce fly populations available to re-infest later crops or carry over to the following year.

The following strategies can be used in an Integrated Pest Management for your crop if Spotted Wing Drosophila has been identified in your area.

Netting: 

Japanese research in 2007, quoted in (5), showed that netting of blueberry orchards with a 0.98 mm mesh net completely prevented blueberry damage by Spotted Wing Drosophila.
Since 85% of commercial soft fruit is grown in poly-tunnels in the UK, growers may be able to include the fine netting as part of their poly-tunnel design.

More frequent harvesting/crop hygiene 

More frequent harvesting of ripe fruit and removal of over-ripe, infected and leftover or spoilt fruit from the crop is important. It reduces the rate of fruit fly population growth during the growing season.

Spotted Wing Drosophila populations grow exponentially towards the end of Summer and into Autumn if unchecked. A larger surviving population of female fruit flies that can overwinter will create problems for you in the following year.

Some of the US advice is more controversial from an environmental perspective. The rationale proposed is that wild fruit and hedgerow plants will act as natural reservoirs of SWD and should therefore be removed close to agricultural areas (13)

Treatment of infected waste

Do not simply compost infected material as this does not kill larvae in the fruit and could actually make the situation worse. Fera mentions the use of deep burial (11). Solarization, insecticide treatment, disposal in closed containers, crushing, cold treatment, bagging and burial are all being investigated (6, 10, 14).

Bait traps

There are mixed messages about the effectiveness of bait traps for mass trapping of Spotted Wing Drosophila (mentioned in 11). The Penn State Extension quotes Japanese work where trapping with 60 to 100 vinegar traps per acre decreased SWD numbers (13).

Organic control 

As an organic grower you would already include the above control measures in your organic IPM. In addition, you may be able to use approved pesticides for organic growers.

Organic growers in Utah and the Pacific Northwest have used a rotation between Entrust, a spinosad pesticide and Pyganic, an organic pyrethrum insecticide (10, 15). Preliminary field trialling results with strawberries and caneberries using Entrust and Pyganic gave up to 5 days of Spotted Wing Drosophila control (16).

A Grower in the UK you need to check whether these organic pesticides can be used on your crops. We need more alternatives as a limited selection of approved pesticides will favour resistance developing.

Chemical control

Pesticides are applied as foliar sprays. The recommended timing is about two weeks before harvest, whilst the fruit is ripening. The aim is to try to kill the adults before they lay eggs. If your monitoring identifies high levels of Spotted Wing Drosophila, you can spray earlier.

Fera in the UK recommends using insecticides with generally lower human toxicity – such as spinosad, imidacloprid, acetamiprid and certain pyrethroids that have been shown to be effective. Obviously you will need to use the products registered for your individual crops (6).

The fast generation time of Spotted Wing Drosophila promotes the development of resistance if you use just one pesticide throughout a season.  Delay the onset of resistance by rotating different classes of insecticides during your season.

Detailed lists of pesticides permitted in the US and recommended for their crops are given in (5, 13, 15).  A comparison of insecticides looked at their impact on Spotted Wing Drosophila both in the laboratory and the field (17). Pyrethoids, organophosphates and spinosyns provided 5 to 15 days of residual control. In contrast, neonicotinoids were not so effective in killing adult flies and are currently not recommended.

IPM Area

Spotted Wing Drosophila can survive in wild fruits and travel large distances. Therefore integrated pest management needs to be applied to a wider area. This means taking in to account treatment in neighbouring crops and how to control SWD numbers in natural areas without detrimentally affecting pollinators and wildlife.

Future Control Options

The advance of Spotted Wing Drosophila in Europe and the US has generated a flurry of research into control measures (5, 18). Based on experience with close fruit fly relatives and other successful pest programs, a whole range of different options are in the pipeline.

Chemigation

Pesticide sprays may not penetrate  deep into the foliage.  The alternative could be application in a mist spray. In the US, trials were conducted on Blueberries using “chemigation”; they applied the pesticides with the cooling mists for the crop during the hottest part of the season. SWD mortality was well above 90%  with mists created using Netafilm micro-sprinklers (19).

Bait trapping

Fera and others mention the possibility of bait trapping (5, 6). Pesticides are added to bait that contains attractants. Feeding adults are then killed. Whilst baits for some fruit flies are known, the best bait for Spotted Wing Drosophila is still to be determined. Currently 5% apple cider vinegar still seems consistently effective as an attractant.

Parasitic wasps

Parasitic wasps have been used to control aphids in greenhouses and poly-tunnels. Naturally occurring parasitic wasps have either been hatched from Spotted Wing Drosophila pupae in the states (13, 20) or tested on SWD in Europe (21). In the latter, only parasitic wasps that attacked the pupae of Spotted Wing Drosophila could kill the pest, namely Trichopria cf drosophilae and P. vindemmieae. It appears that the larvae have some resistance to these wasps. Work is still continuing and the best control wasps then need to be multiplied to commercial levels.

Longer term options

Cini and coworkers wrote their review after the Trento international meeting on Spotted Wing Drosophila. This was attended by about 180 people (5) and also included ideas that would require more research and development.
Ideas being pursued are:

• Searching for more organic and chemical control agents. We need more control agents in the pipeline.  Resistance to existing agents will inevitably arise over time.
• Mating disruption using sterile male Spotted Wind Drosophila.
• Finding and producing Spotted Wing Drosophila pheromones (sex-attractants) that can be used in traps.
• Use of Drosophila specific DNA viruses.
• Exploiting the ability of  bacteria from the genus Wolbachia to infect more than half of living insect species. Wolbachia can cause male feminisation and even death.

One of the accelerating factors in any research into Spotted Wing Drosophila is its relative Drosophila melanogaster, This fruit fly has been the work horse of genetics research for over a century. D. melanogaster DNA has been sequenced for some time. On the 4th July 2012, the Fondazione Edmund Mach announced that they had sequenced the Spotted Wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) genome (22). These factors raise the hope that findings from one model system can be rapidly transferred to Spotted Wing Drosophila.

Summary

This article was written before the likely landfall of Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD, D. suzukii) in the UK. It includes UK advice and also the experiences of growers and researchers in the US and Europe where SWD is already present.

Spotted Wing Drosophila is a notifiable pest. The article describes how to monitor for SWD using 5% apple cider vinegar traps and how to identify the male and female Spotted Wing Drosophila if caught.

Fera has issued a Plant Pest Factsheet for Spotted wing drosophila Drosophila suzukii (6) which is the official source of information on the pest and its control in the UK. There is currently a consultation on UK policy towards Spotted Wing Drosophila (11) which should provide further official guidance when published.

This article provides information both on the existing UK guidance and the wider experience of growers in the USA and Europe who are currently battling with Spotted Wing Drosophila. This report should therefore be of interest for professional fruit growers and for gardeners in the UK who expect the arrival of the pest and are looking for a wider overview.

About the Author

Chris Thomas, PhD, is a former scientist with 20 years of experience in plant molecular biology and plant pathology.

I am now director of  my own company, Milton Contact Ltd (www.miltoncontact.co.uk)  founded in 2004. The company is active in a totally different area – helping companies communicate with their clients in print, pictures and person. Within the UK this involves anything from photography, writing articles and through to editing, designing and publishing books for local authors. Internationally, I assist overseas companies interested in entering the UK market.

This article was an opportunity I could not miss. It was a pleasure to be able to combine:

• A continued interest in plant science and pathology 
• Communicating the information to an audience of farmers, growers and gardeners
• The ability to publish it and make it available to all.

My thanks to:

The fruit grower who came to my Cambridge Open Studios exhibition, saw the photo of a fruit fly head and first made me aware of the existence and risk of Spotted Wing Drosophila entering the UK
Thanks also to my neighbour Jo who had red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar and convenient plastic bottles on hand when she heard of my interest in setting up some fruit fly traps

Updates

• (UPDATE Jan 2013, SWD DETECTED IN KENT, 2012)
• (UPDATE JAN 2013 - Response to the Drosophila suzukii (the spotted wing drosophila) consultation: http://www.fera.defra.gov.uk/plants/plantHealth/pestsDiseases/documents/drosophilaConsultOutcome.pdf)
• (ADDED JAN 2013. Some sites recommend concentrated yeast extract and sugar solutions. I personally would not recommend using these for the following health and safety reason: Similar solutions are used for bacterial cultures, including fecal bacteria. Incidental contamination by animal or bird droppings, or flies that feed on droppings could result in a very high bacterial growth that may be detrimental to you. Also, it is very hard to see the SWD or any fruit flies in a fermented yeast soup!)
• UPDATE Jan 2013. SWD is now NOT notifiable to Fera, because of its biology and it being almost impossible to control at present. Please DO send samples of any trapped adult Drosophila flies to: Dr Michelle Fountain, East Malling Research, New Road, East Malling, Kent ME 19 6BJ.
• UPDATE Aug 2016. SWD is now an established pest in the UK.

References

1. European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation, EPPO Archives (2011). http://archives.eppo.int/EPPOReporting/2011/Rse-1110.pdf
2. Notifiable Pests and Diseases set by Defra/Fera 2010  – see http://www.fera.defra.gov.uk/plants/publications/plantPestDiseaseFactsheets.cfm 
3. Drosophila suzukii 2012, Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drosophila_suzukii#Economic_Impact
4. Bolda, M. P., Goodhue, R. E., and Zalom, F. G. (2009?), Spotted Wing Drosophila: Potential Economic Impact of a Newly Established Pest. Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics  -  University of California.  http://giannini.ucop.edu/media/are-update/files/articles/v13n3_2.pdf
5. Cini, A., Ioriatti, C. & Anfora, G. (2012), A review of the invasion of Drosophila suzukii in Europe and a draft research agenda for integrated pest management. Bulletin of Insectology 65 (1): 149-160, 2012. http://www.bulletinofinsectology.org/pdfarticles/vol65-2012-149-160cini.pdf
6. Anderson, H., Collins, D. and Cannon, R. (2010), Spotted wing drosophila Drosophila suzukii. The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) Plant Pest Factsheet, Crown copyright 2010 http://www.fera.defra.gov.uk/plants/publications/documents/factsheets/drosophilaSuzukii.pdf
7. Yerington, A. P.  & Warner, R. M.  1961, Flight Distances of Drosophila Determined with Radioactive Phosphorus. Journal of Economic Entomology, Volume 54, Number 3, June 1961 , pp. 425-428(4). http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/esa/jee/1961/00000054/00000003/art00010
8. Draft pest risk analysis report for Drosophila suzukii, October 2010.  Biosecurity Australia. http://www.daff.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/1825497/pra-report-drosophila-final.pdf
9. “Spotted Wing Drosophila: What Washington State wine grape growers need to know”. http://www.goodfruit.com/Wine_Grape_SWD_Bulletin_v1_02.pdf
10. Utah Pests Fact Sheet. Spotted Wing Drosophila 2010 http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/ENT-140-10.pdf
11. Letter: Consultation on policy against Drosophila suzukii, 06/01/12, Fera http://www.fera.defra.gov.uk/plants/plantHealth/pestsDiseases/documents/drosophilaConsultLetter.pdf
12. Biology and Management of Spotted Wing Drosophila on Small and Stone Fruits: Year 2 Reporting Cycle. SWD Research Review Summer 2012. USDA-NIFA-SCRI Funded Project 2010-61181-21167. http://horticulture.oregonstate.edu/system/files/SWD_ResearchReviewYear%202_7.16.12.pdf
13. Spotted Wing Drosophila Management, June 22, 2012. Penn State Extension of the Penn State University College of Agricultural Sciences. http://extension.psu.edu/fruit-times/news/2012/spotted-wing-drosophila-management 
14. Walsh, D.B., Bolda, M.P.,  Goodhue, R.E.,  Dreves, A.J.,  Lee, J.,  Bruck, D.J.,  Walton, V.M.,  O’Neal, S.D. and Zalom F.G. 2011. Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae): invasive pest of ripening soft fruit expanding its geographic range and damage potential. J. Integ. Pest Mngmt. 2(1): 2011; DOI: 10.1603/IPM10010. http://esa.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/content/esa/jipm/2011/00000002/00000001/art00003
15. Isaacs, R., Tritten, B., Van Timmeren, S., Wise, J., Garcia-Salazar, C. and Longstroth, M. 2011, Spotted Wing Drosophila Management Recommendations for Michigan Raspberry and Blackberry Growers, Updated  August 2011. http://www.ipm.msu.edu/SWD/ManagementRecommendations-RaspberryBlackberryAug2011.pdf
16. Bolda, M. July 2010. Results of Trial Testing the Efficacy of Several Organically Registered Pesticides for Control of Spotted Wing Drosophila in Raspberry. http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=3086
17.  Bruck, D.J., Bolda, M., Tanigoshi, L., Klick, J.,Kleiber, J., DeFrancesco, J., Gerdeman, B., Spitler, H. 2011. Laboratory and field comparisons of insecticides to reduce infestation of Drosophila suzukii in berry crops. Pest Manag Sci. 2011 Nov;67(11):1375-85. doi: 10.1002/ps.2242. Epub 2011 Jul 28. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21800409
18. Biology and Management of Spotted Wing Drosophila on Small and Stone Fruits: Year 2 Reporting Cycle. SWD Research Review Summer 2012. USDA-NIFA-SCRI Funded Project 2010-61181-21167. http://horticulture.oregonstate.edu/system/files/SWD_ResearchReviewYear%202_7.16.12.pdf
19.  David Eddy, July 2012, Blueberry Mistigation For SWD Control: Applying pesticides through cooling misters pays off. Growing Produce. http://www.growingproduce.com/article/29035/blueberry-mistigation-for-swd-control
20. Brown, P. H., Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Oregon State University, Hood River, OR Shearer, P. W. OR Miller, J. C. OR Howard MA. Nov 2011, The discovery and rearing of a parasitoid (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) associated with spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, in Oregon and British Columbia. Entomology Society of America, ESA Annual Meetings Online Program. http://esa.confex.com/esa/2011/webprogram/Paper59733.html
21. Chaberta, S., Allemanda, R., Poyeta, M., Eslin, P. and Gilberta, P.  2012. Ability of European parasitoids (Hymenoptera) to control a new invasive Asiatic pest, Drosophila suzukii. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2012.05.005
22. News July 2012, Drosophila suzukii's genome sequenced. Fondazione Edmund Mach http://www.investintrentino.it/News/Drosophila-suzukii-s-genome-sequenced.
23. (UPDATE JAN 2013 - Response to the Drosophila suzukii (the spotted wing drosophila) consultation:  http://www.fera.defra.gov.uk/plants/plantHealth/pestsDiseases/documents/drosophilaConsultOutcome.pdf)

Seven tips for scientists talking to a wider audience

There was a palpable charge in the air at today's meeting of the Huntingdonshire Business Network!  A clash of two cultures – science and complementary medicine threatened to arise when the validity of one was queried by the other.

As a professional scientist now active in a totally unrelated business world, this reminded me of my rapid adaptation from talking to non-scientists before and after the transition.

Hence my personal seven tips for scientists talking to a wider audience.

Before that, I would like to describe the realities of the world beyond the safety of a science or technical environment

The majority of the population do not understand science & technology.

In the UK have the proportion of our workforce working in science and engineering is about 35% according to figures in 2010. Gender bias and self selection at an early age sadly mean that only 5%  of the science and engineering workforce are women (“Statistics: Women and men in science, engineering and technology. The UK statistics guide 2010” ). So two thirds of your audience is likely to have only a very limited knowledge of your area of expertise from the start. The remainder are likely to equally ignorant of your specialism.

Most people do not think like a scientist.

Science uses evidence based research with a unique twist: You (and your competition) use reproducible experiments to test any hypothesis in your field of interest. In my experience, this has two consequences. 1. If someone makes a statement – I immediately look for a counterargument to test its validity and 2. If sufficient evidence against my hypotheses is presented, I will accept that a change of ideas is needed – even if grudgingly!

The rest of the world does not necessarily think the same way. Ideas are sometimes readily accepted if they fit within a world view and facts might be ignored if they do not suit. This is the main stumbling block for scientists trying to communicate outside of their field. Presenting ideas or evidence in a scientific way does not necessarily result in people accepting them.

Science is seen as just one of many world views

The practical aspects of science and technology mean that people trust their car's engineering and their conventional medicine of their GPs and hospitals. They might also have a belief in one or more gods, astrology, The Only Way is Essex, personality tests and business management systems. They will be influenced by culture and preconceptions about gender and race. What's more, they can even hold  several totally contradictory views simultaneously.

Even scientists are not immune from this. The mathematical giant Newton's other interest was alchemy. Conan Doyle believed in the incisive rationality that lead to Sherlock Holmes and forensic science – and in fairies. Whilst non-religion and atheism are especially prevalent amongst scientists,  estimates suggest between 30% to 50% believe in God or gods.

So, faced with a potential audience that does not understand science, has its own often contradictory world views and may not be predisposed to change them. How DO you address them in a way that will be heard?

Seven tips for scientists talking to wider audiences:

1. Accept that people may have different world views. You do not have to agree or condone their views. In most instances you can just respect that they have them.
2. Make clear that your views are expressed within a science or technical framework. “This is my background and the way I approach the subject” is a good way to make it easier for an audience to listen more receptively.
3. Do not aim to prove the other party wrong. This is the fastest way to put up barriers. Avoid words such as “but”, “however”, “nevertheless”. They immediately raise resistance. You can disagree or agree to disagree. Phrases like “my personal view” or “the view of … is” allow you to reiterate what your position is without being confrontational.
4. KISS (Keep it simple, stupid). Try to have a clear simple, message or point. Assume no prior knowledge by the audience right from the start. The ideal is where your audience can leave with a clear memory of your key message.
5. Use positive language where possible. True passion and excitement will keep your audience engaged. Remember that whenever you talk as a scientist to non-scientists, you are an ambassador for science. 
6. Make sure you know your facts and know your limits. Both generally earn respect from an audience.
7. Be true to your values. Points 1 to 6 are all about accommodating and adapting to your audience. This does not mean that you cannot draw a line where there is an obvious conflict with your own values. 

Returning to the frisson at the Huntingdonshire Business Meeting – how did the situation pan out there today?

It immediately became apparent that we had as many different world views as people in the room – with all joining in the lively conversation. Some were more sympathetic to the  alternative healing cause, others leant towards science. God and spirituality were thrown in the mix as well as pragmatism - “how you get there is less important than that it produces the desired result”.

The overall tenor of the meeting was however to find a conciliatory solution.  In the end we acknowledged that we all had different views. Situation defused, we went on to a gentler, more entertaining second half of the meeting, with more insight about our friends and business colleagues.

The transit of Venus seen from the SDO, Mona Loa and Queensland over the internet

An event equally momentous to the Queens Diamond Jubilee, the transit of Venus grabbed my attention.

Britain’s location and the threat of clouds meant that I was unlikely to see the last few minutes of the transit of venus at 5am or so on the 6th of June. However, having a long standing interest in solar activity via the SOHO and SDO solar observation satellites, I thought these would present a good opportunity to watch the transit from space.

Surprisingly, the older SOHO satellite, although placed at the L1 Lagrange point directly between the Sun and Earth, would not see Venus transit across the sun. The reason being that the SOHO satellite is placed about 1.5 million kilometres closer to the sun and the angle of view is sufficiently different.

Fortunately, the SDO satellite is in a geosynchronous orbit around the Earth, a mere 36,000 kilometers above the Pacific Ocean just off the coasts of Peru and Mexico. It was expected to see the transit much as we would from Earth. The SDO also had a special Venus transit page at http://venustransit.gsfc.nasa.gov/data and therefore was worth watching.

There were two other opportunities to view the event live over the internet. NASA Edge promised to bring a live stream from the telescopes on the peaks of Mona Loa in Hawaii at http://www.ustream.tv/nasaedge. Across the Pacific, the University of Quennsland was also coordinating live coverage from Australian telescopes – at http://www.uq.edu.au/transit-of-venus/.

The transit was supposed to start with first contact with the disc of the sun (as seen from Earth) at 23:16 BST from Australia and about 23:09 from Mona Loa in Hawaii.

I had all three sites up and by 22:25 BST. Venus could be seen approaching the sun via through the SDO when viewed using very short ultraviolet light. These wavelengths shows the corona or outer atmosphere of the sun and are not as bright as the photosphere - the bright yellow sun surface we usually see. Flicking between channels, the Mona Loa broadcast started at 10:45 and the Australians  also went live.

Just before first contact, when Venus just appears to touch the edge of the sun, the Hawaiian telescope went off line briefly! Having access to several different observation sites paid off.  I observed first contact via the SDO at about 23:07:45 BST, followed later by the Australian telescopes. Eventually, the Americans did come back online.

You can see the images I downloaded at the time from the SDO page, every couple of minutes or so.
They show Venus and the sun's edge highly magnified as the planet approaches and then begins to move across the sun. These are followed by pictures of the entire sun about halfway through the transit.

I deliberately downloaded images on the 6th (the following day) to show Venus against the sun as seen at different wavelengths.Each successive image looks deeper into the sun. We start at the Corona, where flares are visible and move into the chromosphere, where you can see convection cells. Then we reach the low temperature, quiet zone of the sun. Finally, we arrive at the final layer which is the one we usually see with our naked (but protected!) eyes, the photosphere.

A particular lovely feature is that Venus crosses the sun close to a region of sunspots and high solar activity. We are currently in the peak period of the sun's activity in its 11 year cycle and sunspots are a regular feature on the sun's surface.

The next transit of Venus across the sun is expected on the 10th December, 2117 so I was very happy to have lived at the right time in our history to see this momentous event.

Viewing the transit of Venus would not have been possible in this way if information from NASA, the SDO, the University of Queensland and access to the internet were not made publicly available. This event demonstrated to me, why open access to technology and information is important.

If you would like help with writing your news, get in touch with Chris at chris@miltoncontact.com

Titanic iceberg risks in the modern age

With the Balmoral recreating the Titanic's voyage Titanic route  (http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/Titanic-Route-Map-A1514), some interesting information on the current status and risks to shipping from icebergs.

Sitting in Cambridge at 52 degrees North, it comes as a bit of a surprise that the Titanic sank off New foundland at about 41.5 degrees North, i.e. a full 10 degrees further South (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic#Wreck).

Ocean currents and Greenland are mainly responsible for these differences. Our milder climate is due to the beneficial effects of the warm Gulf Stream that originates from southern warmer waters and continues up to the arctic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Stream). On the other side of the Atlantic currents swirl around the southern tip of Greenland and then hug the coast direction North. The currents pass the Greenland glaciers that are calving icebergs in the Spring (http://webspace.webring.com/people/xa/aktaion/icetrack.htm).

The icebergs are carried towards the Canadian coast and then join a southward bound current that follows the contours of the North American continent. The combination of the size of icebergs, the cold current and the fact that it actually takes quite a lot of heat to melt ice means that sizeable icebergs still survive in the ocean as the current sweeps east and south of Newfoundland
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/62594241/10/Map-13-Iceberg-Routes-to-the-North-Atlantic).

Large icebergs can be detected by radar. However even "smaller" chunks of ice are more difficult to detect, being almost toally submerged. In addition to icebergs, the terminology of ice hazards includes Bergy Bits (about 5 to 15m in length) and Growlers (less than 5m long)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg). These are still hazards as even just cubic meter of water weighs a metric ton, so that growlers and bergy bits can range from 5 ton to 30 tons.

Icebergs themselves range from small (15m - 60m long) to extrememly large such as iceberg B-15. It calved in 2000, was larger than Jamaica at 11,000 square kilometers and weighed a cool three billion tons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg_B-15). B-15 still had not fully melted a decade later. It gradually broke up, with one piece making it as far as New Zealand in 2006.

According to a BBC article, icebergs still cause shipping accidents at a rate of about 2.3  year (57 between 1980 - 2005 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17257653). The causes are increased traffic in the acrctic waters due to search for mineral resources and ships risking travelling further North into iceberg affected waters to cut journey times and fuel costs by trimming up to 1000 miles off journeys.

Since the Titanic's fatal voyage, an international iceberg watch has been established. The International Ice Patrol issues charts of observed icebergs along the North American coast (http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=iipCharts). As I write this article, there are are about 173 icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland, between 46 degrees North and 55 degrees North
(http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?Do=popImage&urlRef=images/iip/data/2012/20120409_NAIS65.gif.)

I assume that the Balmoral, recreating the Titanic's journey, will be taking a safer course, rather than making any shortcuts, to arrive at the location of the Titanic at circa 41 degrees, 43.5 minutes North, 49 degrees, 56.8 minutes West, on 14th April - 100 years after the original event.

I'm not panicking about fuel, i'm rational!

Have you noticed that when people where interviewed in the petrol queues recently, it was not them that was panic buying just everyone else?

The strange thing appears to be that this is indeed the case for everyone. Each individual was not panic buying but making a prudent decision to ensure that they had some petrol for perfectly rational personal reasons. I too felt the mental tug to consider refueling. Had my car's tank not been three quarter's full, I might have done so.

What causes these individual choices that collectively have unintended consequences, like causing a fuel shortage that we were trying to avoid?

The plethora of psychologists commenting on the web had a common underlying message. Overall, the analysis is as follows:

We are told on the one hand that there will be a potential fuel tanker strike in the near future.
The government says, do not worry, just think ahead a bit and plan.
We think, if the government say there is an issue but we shouldn't worry, then there must be a slightly worrying issue, otherwise why would this have been brought to our attention.
The situation is now very much like the game theory of the "prisoner's dilemma" - we look at four potential choices:

1. I do not buy fuel, everybody else does not buy extra fuel, fuel stocks OK for the moment
2. I do not buy fuel, everybody else buys fuel, it runs out and I get none when I need it
3. I do buy fuel, everybody else does not buy fuel, so I'm OK
4. I do buy fuel, everybody else buys fuel, at least I'm OK for the moment

The temptation to buy earlier rather than later is there. Some people do go ahead and buy fuel. Others wait until we see what the rest are doing.

Then the media announces that there is an increase in fuel purchases at the pumps.

So for those who have not bought yet, the balance shifts. Options 1 and 3 no longer apply. If I do not buy fuel now, I might not get any later. If I buy now at least I'll be OK.

More people arrive at the pumps - the media start talking of "panic buying". This reinforces my choices. If everyone else is panicking and looking out for themselves, it is only logical that I too buy if I have not already done so.

I'm rational - it is everyone else who seems to be panicking! Yet like me, they are making the same rational choice.

And so, with our impeccable individual logic we collectively create the crisis we were trying to avoid in the first place!

Some links to psychologist's comments and the prisoner's dilemma here.

No panic for petrol
The logic of panic buying
Should you panic buy fuel? A true prisoner's dilemma
Media to blame for panic buying

Other advice on saving fuel:
Cheap Petrol & Diesel - Cut your fuel spend by a third


Ideas and concepts communicated simply.

A14 coffee morning science question on epigenetics

Forget the stuffy image of business networking being about serious suited business people selling to each other. At its best, it is about conversations and getting to know each other in a pleasant environment which,over time, often leads to unexpected business opportunities.

It also means that the most unexpected questions arise as when Rachael Orchard of Nu Skin turned to me and, hearing I had a science background, asked

“And what do you think of epigenetics?”

I was flummoxed and had to dredge my memory for some faint recollection to give an answer.

I was prompted to do a it more revision over the weekend.

So what is “epigenetics”?

Well, you may recall from news items that we have about 20,000 to 30,000 genes, which code for all the information that makes us human. The information being “written” in our DNA. Now, a cell in your big toe will have the same DNA as one of your brain cells, and yet they are obviously very different.

Soon after your parents created you as a fertilised egg cell, in their hopefully passionate encounter, you began to divide into more cells as you started to grow. As the process continued, certain genes were turned on, others turned off. The effect was different in different cell or cell lines. So gradually some of your cells became toe cells, others brain cells. And when a toe cell divided during growing up to help make a bigger toe, these too were now toe cells. This is true of cells in all the different parts of your body, heart, kidney, hair and skin.

The process of your (and any other organisms) development is called epigenesis. The study of epigenesis is – epigenetics!

OK, but why is epigenetics relevant in a business discussion?

The process of epigenesis, of you becoming you, is not just a pre-programmed inevitability. What you eat, where and how you live can also have an impact.

Rachael Orchard is part of Nu Skin, a company that produces anti-ageing nutrition and skincare. Nu Skin has been working closely with and also recently bought a company called LifeGen Technologies. LifeGen Technologies studies the epigenetics of ageing. They have a patent pending based on initial studies on mice.

LifeGen Technologies have identified genes that may be affected during ageing. This will lead to studies to understand how this happens. In turn, hopefully treatments or actions that can reduce or delay the signs of ageing will follow.

This would be gold for the Nu Skin anti-ageing company

Therefore in this business discussion, epigenetics was highly relevant!


If you need to communicate complex topics to your clients or business partners, let me help.

The science of ageing is a new and hotly debated research area. Calorific restriction (giving less food) is one treatment shown scientifically to work in extending lifespan for yeast, rodents and dogs. Studies on primates and humans are in progress.